Rev. G. C. Rankin

Rev.
G. C. Rankin, D. D., pastor of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church
South, is a native of Jefferson County, Tenn., born November 19, 1849,
and the son of Creed W. and Martha J. (Clark) Rankin, both natives of
East Tennessee. The Rankin family has produced twenty-three preachers -
twenty-one Presbyterians, one Congregational and one Methodist
Episcopal. Creed W. was a farmer by occupation and died in 1862. The
mother is still living. Our subject is the only living child of a family
of seven children. He was educated in the common schools and at Hiwassee
College from which institution he graduated in 1874. Since that time he
has been engaged in his ministerial duties at the following places,
respectively: Abingdon, Va; Asheville, N. C.; Knoxville, Tenn., and
Chattanooga, where he is at the present time. In 1875 he married Miss
Fannie Denton, of Dalton, Ga., who bore him five children-one son and
four daughters. Mrs. Rankin is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Mr. Rankin is a mason, and has been preaching the gospel for
twelve years. He came to Chattanooga in 1883, and is an able and
faithful minister. He received the degree of D. D. from the University
of Tennessee in the year 1879.